Eleven pizza delivery drivers in Pensacola, Fla. took on a Domino’s franchise and won the first ever union for such workers. Domino’s is the second largest pizza company in the world.
Delivery driver Jim Pohle told PSLweb.org, “We formed the union on my birthday, March 7, and then voted for the right to
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Limited negotiations with management have recently begun. “We don’t really have anything to go on. There have never been contract negotiations between drivers and a pizza company before in the U.S. It’s going to be a process,” explained Pohle.
“My main goal is to organize his other six stores,” he added. Pohle said that the main bargaining issues involve delivery safety concerns and minimum wage pay. Over the last decade, delivery jobs have ranked as the fifth most dangerous job nationally.
Barry Knott, a driver and secretary of operations of the board of directors of the union, told PSLweb.org, “Every time we mention the issue of attacks against us they blow it off. It’s a very important point for us. We are putting it on the negotiating table.”
Since the formation of the AUPDD, the drivers have come under additional pressure. The management has eliminated shift end times and has expanded delivery areas. More importantly, however, the union has received calls and emails from pizza delivery drivers around the country who also want to organize.
The pizza delivery drivers have inspired additional service workers in the Florida panhandle.
“People all around town have gotten to know me from this. Workers in Circle K and Tom Thumb [a Florida convenience store] and other stores have expressed interest in organizing their shops,” said Pohle.
At the Domino’s where Pohle works, the non-delivery workers have signed a petition to organize a union, but there are charges pending against Domino’s that must be resolved before a vote takes place.
The impetus of the delivery workers’ organizing drive began when the company denied a requested raise of 25 cents per hour—if granted, it would have matched Florida’s minimum wage. “I got fed up and said to a friend, ‘That’s it. I’m forming a union,’” said Pohle. “My friend said, ‘I’m with you,’ but I told him I didn’t really mean it. But my friend did mean it, and that was it. We went forward.”
Pizza delivery drivers, like other service workers, face many obstacles on the job and in organizing. Other attempts to organize pizza delivery drivers in Tenn., Neb. and Ohio have failed due to company pressure. Many pizza delivery workers are part-time workers earning minimum wage and tips. Delivery work is a second job for many of the workers.
As the cost of living and gas prices continues to increase, coupled with increased crimes against drivers, there is a strong need to improve compensation and working conditions for pizza delivery drivers through collective action. In addition, drivers must pay for their own car insurance.
Domino’s alone has 8,000 franchises in some 60 countries around the world. Pizza Hut has 34,000 stores in 100 countries. Last year Domino’s reported gross revenues $5 billion. The fast-food pizza industry is just one of many service-oriented industries in the United States. The country’s two top employers are Wal-Mart and McDonalds. This massive shift away from union wage manufacturing jobs to service jobs presents new challenges for union organizing.
“Down here in Florida there are so few unions. People don’t know what they do. Florida is an at-will employment state too. You can be fired at any time for no reason at all,” said Pohle.
But Pohle offers response to help overcome these obstacles: “The underclass in this country is treated so poorly, and they don’t know a way out. I say, let’s stop shuffling between low wage jobs and fight back. Organize a union.”
